edgersh

Hi guys I am finishing building a 33% hostletter extra 300 and am thinking of using hobbykings covering and was wondering if anyone
had any used it and how they liked it. thanks Eddie

Carlos G

Hi edgersh,

I have been making a few repairs to a Kangke Howard and have been using the H.K. sky blue covering that seems to be a good match for this arf. The H.K. covering seems to work decently and is similar to the Old SuperMonokote of a bygone era. The primary color seems uniform on the roll and seems well bonded to the plastic film. The color also has a white color coat/adhesive under the primary color, ( at least in the roll of film I have) The HK film seems to bond well to balsa & hardwood (ply in this case) and seems to stay put. My iron temp isn't as high as it would be for monokote. So the tensile strength is somewhere between SuperMonokote and some low temp films, say Solarfilm.

The clear film backing is somewhat harder to separate from the covering material and could be a challenge on smaller bits of covering. Once you get the knack of peeling it apart from the primary film it shouldn't me much of a problem. The white adhesive may bleed around the edges a bit during the sealing process. The bleeding can be cleaned up with a soft cloth and acetone.

I would rate it better than the current monokote as far as application goes but about a 8 out of 10, with the Old Super monokote being a 10. Ultracoat is about a 6.5 on this scale at least to me.

I haven't tried any other H.K. colors yet so I cant speak as to how they might be. If the other colors are similar in quality I would say the H.K. film is a good alternative to some of the others out there on the market.

Hope this helps

Carlos G.

Gizmo-RCU

My Feedback: (27)

Carlos is right on. I am presently re-covering my Ultra Stick using the transparent on the open rib bays. Working well so far just anchor it in small steps and pull as tight as you can get away with. It shrinks well and looks good.
When ordering go for the heavy rolls, seems to be more material on them for little more cost?

kmeyers

Wow, great replies.

AwwNaww

Just to chime in, I bought some of this long ago before the vendor had US based warehousing. I had to pay an extra fee for boxing and shipping so I took a leap of faith and ordered A LOT! When I started to pull from some of the rolls, I was surprised to find they had given me (free) tail ends of .5 to 1.5m on the roll before running the full 5m so I got a really good deal even given the extra shipping. Recently, I purchased some replacement film and the color matches to the older rolls as perfectly as I can see. The older (6yr??) film still sticks and stretches as new.

funnotcrazy

I bought a few rolls and covered a 1/4 scale Decathlon. No complaints here. For the price difference, I REALLY Like it.

blvdbuzzard

I have used a lot of different covering, monokote, econokote, cheapkote, flight cote, towerkote, oracover, 21st century and so on. This stuff seems like a cross between econokote and monokote, Oracover. It is stretchy, shrinks well like the econokote, but is stronger like the others.

I picked mine up from hobbypartz on sale for less than $5.00 a roll. I guess I have about 20 rolls on hand. From solid checked and trans colors. So far it has been pretty good stuff.


Buzz.

rcguy59

My Feedback: (8)

I started using HK covering a couple of years ago. Living very close to the old Lakewood whse, I always picked it up, so the shipping cost was a non-issue. With no instructions, (HK customers are used to that) I had to experiment a bit to find the right iron temperature and it was a lot higher than I thought it would be. Separating the covering from the backing was fairly easy on some colors and a royal biatch on others. Not sure what the problem is there. To get it to adhere to bare balsa, it needed a hotter iron than Ultracote. At the right temp for the adhesive, it shrinks a lot more than I would like, but I got used to it. For compound curves, I find it at least as good as Ultracote and far better than Monokote. Since I almost always use Balsarite, I've never had a problem with the HK covering lifting from the wood. Without Balsarite, it's about the same as the others. It seems to stick to itself just fine, as long as you use enough heat. Forget about using the stuff on foam, it just requires too much heat. Unless I need some oddball color that HK doesn't have, this is the only covering I will ever buy. I've used it on giant-scale gassers, fast glow models and electrics and find it every bit as good as Ultracote and way ahead of Monokote. Actually, I gave up on Monokote several years ago when they changed it, supposedly to better suit ARF manufacturers. I don't know if that's actually true or not, but it sure as hell isn't the same stuff I was getting 20 years ago. Too difficult to get decent results now and even if I did, a flight or two later it was falling off of the model anyway. Monocrap. My two cents.

Gizmo-RCU

My Feedback: (27)

Whats the trick getting it to bond when used as trim (w/o bubbles, etc.)???

braddock VC

Easy way to separate the film from the backing, use masking tape cut about 2 - 3inches stick one side on the colour then cut another bit and stick it at 90 degrees on the backing film, press them on firmly then pull them slowly apart.
Not my idea but it sure works.
The film is great btw.

rcguy59

My Feedback: (8)

I tried that and more often than not, it didn't work. I separate it using a fresh #11 blade. Tedious as hell, but it works. What I ended up doing was separating the film from the backing along the full width of the new roll, peeling it back as I cut pieces off of the roll. Not all rolls/colors require this method, but you quickly find the ones that do.

JollyPopper

My Feedback: (6)

I have used several colors of this stuff and really like it. It sticks better than anything I have used and shrinks beautifully. I have found that putting one color of this stuff over another causes the white adhesive to bleed. I have been buying mine from Value Hobby and that way I don't have to worry about HK's poor service. I discovered a color that I have been using a lot. Beautiful. It is called "plum" .

LRFitch

edgersh,
A friend and I have used it to cover a couple glider tugs. One has a 114" span, and the other 130" span. The covering is wonderful. It goes on very well, and shrinks up with no wrinkles. We will use it again, for sure. My friend used yellow, and black (bottoms of wings), and I used white, red/white checker board. All four colors work well..

Larry Fitch

Bill Diedrich

I to have found the HK films to be an excellent film, but be careful when using it for trim
especially if combined with the MonoKote Trim Solvent, it doesn't like it wiped over the
trim before positioning as the color dissolves too much. I have found that by wiping the
area lightly in the place you intend to position the trim it works better and only requires a
light heat to make it stay put, I usually do this next day after the solvent has dried.

Gizmo-RCU

My Feedback: (27)

Thanks Bill, what I was looking for.

Flypaper 2

Works well on foam too, as it takes low heat to bond
Here's my foam 1/4 scale Byron Christen Eagle covered with it.